Search and Rescue Report |
12/14/2004 to 12/19/2004 |
| Bill and I hit the road Tuesday around 5pm on our 350 mile first leg of the trip and arrived at our hotel around 1:30am. Wednesday morning we where to meet up with Mike at 7:30am but had concerns because we may have given him incorrect directions to the hotel and cell phones where of little use. Right at 7:30 Mike popped out of his camper that was across the parking lot and we where on our way. Mike left Tuesday at 7:00pm and didn't arrive at the hotel until 6:30 the next morning due to road closures between Grants Pass and Gold Beach. At least he made it and we hit the road to our first destination.
Our original plan for this trip was to spend a few days checking out the Cretaceous Hornbrook Formation. We really didn't have enough time to do this so it was decided to start out at Gold Beach and collect the Lookingglass Formation. We spent most of the day Wednesday collecting Orbitoplax and Raninoides crabs. Bill's brother, who lives in the area decided to hunt for mushrooms. We hooked back up with him after an hour and he collected at least 20lbs of Black Chanterelle, which he sells in town. He gave us about 10lbs for the trip. We stayed the night again at Gold Beach then headed north on Thursday. We stopped at Cape Blanco and collected South of the lighthouse in the Elk River formation for Pliocene invertebrates. We found lots of clams, a few gastropods and some very nice barnacles. Our next destination was to the Tenmile Member of the Lookingglass Formation near Coquille. We planned on spending the night at a campground on the creek we where to collect but it was closed for the winter. We checked out a few road cuts and Bill found a very nice Orbitoplax. We decided to hit Coos Bay a day earlier than planned and rolled into the Campground near dark. We had a few minutes of light left so Mike and I hit the beach and collected small concretions from the Coaledo Formation that contain Paleopinnixa and Raninoides crabs. We filled out pockets then headed back to camp. Friday we checked out a new area near Cape Arago Light House. So far the weather on this trip had been outstanding and today was no different. Unfortunately we didn't find much. There were a few concretions but they mostly contained wood. We headed to another beach and where able to fill our pockets again with small concretions. Friday afternoon we packed up and drove to our final destination at Beverly Beach near Newport. After camp was setup we hit the beach. The week prior the coast experienced some large wave action and the cliffs where nicely eroded but there were more sand on the beach than we expected. Saturday AM we Aaron rolled into camp and we headed out and met up with Jim. We collected a small area near Moolack Beach and Aaron found his Oregon crab (Mursia). We hit camp for a quick bite to eat then back out. This time we checked out areas North of Beverly Beach. A small stream has eroded out large concretions and we spent the remainder of the day whacking them open. No Musashia gastropods where found but we did round up several nice Pectins. Sunday we experienced our first foul weather of the trip. We awoke to a heavy mist that eventually turned into rain. We collected between Moolack and Beverly beach and I'm not sure if any of us found anything worth keeping. I have since busted all the concretion I collected from the Coaledo formation and have found Raninoides, Paleopinnixia, large Callianassa claws, a unidentified Portunid, and a nice little shark tooth with a small Paleopinnixia next too it. From the Astoria formation near Newport I found a Paleopinnixia and a Mursia. Trip Attendees: Andrew Bland, Bill Sullivan, Aaron Currier, Mike Santino, and Jim Scheirbeck |
Trip Pictures |
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| Lighhouse South of Moolack Beach |
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| Toredo Wood |
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| Collecting near Beverly Beach |
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| Mike checking out a Pectin |
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| Andrew beating up a concretion |
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| Jim and Bill taking a breather |
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| Bill whacking concretions back at camp |
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| Aaron with something cool |
| ©2004 NARG - North America Research Group |